Marvel Entertainment released the newest character reveal trailer for the upcoming team-based hero shooter, Marvel Rivals.

Moon Knight, the focus o??f the trailer, was revealed to be among the 25 playable heroes and v?illains available on the game's launch roster. Some of his abilities and their combat utility are on display in the short reveal.

Moon Knight appears to have a damage-per-second centered design that is adept at mid-range skirmishes. His primary fire lacks overall d??amage output but deals knockback that can pu?sh opponents off the map for quick kills. Moon Knight's other abilities look useful for dealing burst damage, cleaning up kills on low-health enemies, and using his glide and super jump to enter and exit the fray at will.

His ultimate technique is an area-of-effect attack that opens up a portal above a hostile location, raining down massive fists that smash into? the ground, dealing damage on the way. For overall strategy, Moon Knight looks to harass enemies from a distance, then uses his movement options to get into the fight in a favorable position. From there, he can cause mayhem in the enemy team's back-row and escape unscathed.

Moon Knight's inclusion in Rivals isn't surprising considering the popularity of the hero's TV mini-series starring Oscar Isaac, though Marvel hasn't spoken much about the character or a follow-up sea??son since the show aired in 2022.

Marvel Rivals is free-to-play and officially launches December 6 on Steam, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and the Epic Games Store. The game's entire 25-character launch roster is also free-to-play and won't require players to unlock them b?efore use.

The post Moon Knight revealed in new trailer for Marvel’s Rivals appeared first on Destructoid.

Dead by Daylight continues its trend of adding well-known movie and video game horror villains to its increasing roster. Now, Child's Play is the latest franchise to be incorporated, as developer Behaviour Interactive brings the killer doll Chucky to the?? game.

A new trailer for the patch shows the pint-sized terror doing what he does best: stabbing people to death. Chucky comes with two modes, Normal and Hidey-Ho, the latter of which makes him?? temporarily undetectable. He's also in a fixed third-person camera view due to his short stature.

Dead by Daylight has also added in The Good Gal, which is essentially Tiffany. Fans of both the game and the Child's Play s??eries will be pleased to know that Brad Dourif has reprised? his role as the voice of Chucky.

No short-changing with this update

But it's not just Chucky and Tiffany that have been added in. Patch 7.4.0 also brings with it a few changes, including some tweaks to a number of DbD's killer??s. There's also been a slight reduction to?? some of the larger maps, specifically Mother's Dwelling and Red Forest Realm.

If that wasn't enough, the update also implements a ton of fixes, adds in a Player Card, which you "can earn collectable banners and badges" for, and adds support for AMD's FSR 1.0 upscaling technology. You can see the full patch notes on the Steam page.

It's a pretty sweet gig Dead by Daylight has. While a popular asymmetrical horro?r g?ame in general, the fact that it has a long list of other franchises it can utilize for characters and enemies lends it that extra bit of longevity. With it now bringing Chucky into the mix, it kind of makes me want to reinstall it again.

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I rise and study the land before me. The waves of the ocean behind are a soundtrack, a salty rhythm accompanying my own heavy breathing. Running was not on my agenda today.

The wind sticks to the sweat on my forehead, cooling my face and tussling my hair like a breezy aunt. Looking down, I see the tatters of the clothes I'm wearing. I don't know how I escaped death. I don't know when my luck will run dry. All I know is the long road ahead, winding round the coast and disappearing behind a crest.

Then, a surprise sight fills my heart with glee. A small cabin, open and inviting. Its dilapidation a thing of beauty. Its broken roof, a veritable stronghold.

Yes, I really am this pretentious

So, I've been replaying DayZ recently. Perhaps because of the latest update. Perhaps because I was starting to miss the baffling sensation of being able to hold a virtual potato in my hand but also not being able to eat it for some reason (it's not raw, it's rustic).

The introduction at the top represents an average experience for me in fictional Chernarus, though typically with more cholera. Bohemia Interactive's decision to lean more towards realistic survival elements in this zombie survival game makes DayZ one of the more?? challenging release??s in the genre.

But it says so much more than its surface narrative, which thrusts players into an abandoned world of apocalyptic collapse. The undead stalk the ghost towns and st??reets of this post-Soviet republic. No, I think the game is (unintentionally) holding a mirror up to my own real existence.

For example:

Which direction should I go in?

When starting a new playthrough in DayZ, it's difficult to k??now where to head. Now, I've died and started over many times, yet I still don't know the co??rrect thing to do in the beginning. Do I immediately look for the nearest building to seek food and other items, knowing the outskirts are less yielding? Do I somehow attempt to book it for the major towns where supplies are plentiful, but so are the zombies?

In any case, what I typically end up doing is leisurely jogging along an empty road like I'm in a nutritional breakfast ad. Eventuall??y, I'll happen upon a branching path. The main road will co?ntinue, almost certain to lead to a more populated area. However, the lure of the side road is hard to resist. What's up there? Will this take me to food or weapons any quicker?

There are many ??forks in life, but it's hard to know which is the best one to take. No doubt there are some I should have gone down when given the chance, but ended up somewhere else. There are many choices, but all will lead one way: forward. However, inva??riably, many of them will end with a sense of existential regret and/or a zombie bite to the face (metaphorically...maybe).

Everyone is out to get ya

Business rivals, vengeful neighbors, salespeople, politicians so morally twisted you could repurpose them as fusilli pasta...we all encounter those who don't have our best interests at heart. DayZ gi?ves those people guns. Or at least the option to scavenge them. Which the?y do. With gusto, it seems.

Now, this isn't really anything new in a survival game. Rust is notorious for having players that are a little too trigger-happy. I also stopped playing 7 Days to Die on multiplayer because in a zombie apocalypse, the zombies should be the biggest threat (unless it's trying to be a ?scathing takedown on humanity's violent nature).

I'm always a little bewildered that a world torn apart at the seams and everyone resetting to zero doesn't result in more attempts to work together. Whatever happened to community?? spirit?

Am I reading too much into this? I'm sure there are people out there who have bonded with others and are ta??kin??g on zombies (and others) as the unstoppable unit they are. But I don't know where these people are...because I'm busy dodging the frantic bullets of a random human who seemingly doesn't know the meaning of "no, I don't want an extended warranty, thank you!"

Small victories are actually big victories

There's a saying about how some people know the price of everything and the value of nothing. I know how much a tin of tuna costs, but it's only when I see it in DayZ as my ??hunger meter flashes red that I truly appreciate tuna's worth.

When my character is starving, I'm surprised by my own desperation. I'd eat tree bark if ?the game let me. Fuck it. I'd eat at a Wetherspoons [pause for gasps from readers]. So let me? tell you that when I find a small can of brisket spread or some floor zucchini, it's no small feat. Or...it's a testament to how bad I am at the game.

Either way, I quickly learned to celebrate the small things in DayZ. Whether it's finding a hat that offers more warmth or five bullets for that worn out pistol I've been carryin?g around for two days, there is no sweeter feeling than being given a tiny leg up. The tiny leg I fracture as I drop from a relatively short?? height.

I lack even the most basic of survival skills

What's likely become apparent to many of you reading this is that I'm not very good at DayZ. I'm not in the community, so I don'??t know how common it is to suck at a zombie game this hard. But this is just a reflection of how I am as a person outs?ide this crazy world we call gaming. I am, for want of a better word, inept when it comes to survival.

Now, I live in the countryside. We're not exactly isolated, but it's been quite the shift from central urban environments with plenty of amenities around. Though I've adjusted quite well to living far away, I still quite miss shops, pubs, accessible public transport??, and my friends.

But were you to leave me in the wilderness �à la DayZ-style �I would find myself unbearably out of my comfort zone. I'm sure I'm not alone in that thinking, but it doesn't take long to realize that, should a?n outbreak of the undead occur, I would have no idea how to sustain myself without the conveniences I depend on every day.

In the game, it's possible to repair a car, build a base, craft weapons and items, and stave off hunger with all manner of found sustenance ?(I can cook, but not live-chicken-to-table cook). With the??se essential survival skills lacking, it's obvious I would not fare well were society to collapse. You know what I can do? I can write vaguely entertaining articles. Handy that in a world that's experiencing disaster.

I'm hungry

I mean...this is just me in general.

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Facepunch Studios' brutal online survival game Rust has been going (and going) for years. Its punishing gameplay seems to entice the most sadistic of players, and up??dates continue to add to the world. Now, the most recent patch implements enough new stuff to mat??ch a Schwarzenegger flick.

A recent video uploaded to the Rust/Facepunch YouTube channel gives a good idea of what you can expect the next time you log in. Among other things, the developer has now added an attack helicopter, which comes com??plete with a gunner seat. There's also a homing missile launcher to take down sa??id helicopter, and also an armored hot air balloon because why not?

//youtu.be/gTKll4bk968

One other thing that's been included in this latest update is the weapon rack. As the name suggests, this gives you a handy place to store all those guns. And while you're at it, have some parachutes as well, which allow you to "travel silently over long distances." More details about the new patch can be found on Steam.

Not rusty yet

If you're a newcomer to Rust, you'll know how tough it is to make it through those first few days. When it's not the threat of starvation or? the wildlife that's keen on gnawing your bones, it's the other players who are, quite ?frankly, trigger-happy.

Still, it's worth it if you can thrive in this harsh environment. The game's been out for several years now �originally releasing to early access in 2013 �and Facepunch Studios seems only too keen to keep improving its survival IP. Plus, now you can literally "Get to the choppa!"

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You can resume previously regular dueling activities

It looks like Dark Souls 3 PC players will be able to engage with the online side of its content again. Online features for the PC version of Dark Souls 3 went back online today.

The news was made known through the Dark Souls Twitter account today. The Souls team is also working to restore these features for all other Dark Souls titles, as it looks like only the third is back right now. An announcement will be made when those services are b?ack online.

//twitter.c??om/Dark?SoulsGame/status/1562718968086872064

The PC servers for Dark Souls, Dark Souls 2, and Dark Souls 3 have been offline for quite some time. They were taken down after a severe exploit was uncovered in these games. An RCE exploit in Dark Souls 3 let players run malicious code, creating a pretty serious vulnerability. Players drew attention to it, and the exploit was enough t??o yank down the servers for all thr??ee games on PC. Console servers, meanwhile, have stayed online.

Calling in online assistance

While we've been getting steady updates on the status of these servers, it's nice to see at least one of the games back. Online features are a pretty big part of the Souls exper?ience, ranging from PvP to calling in assistance?? and leaving messages.

Meanwhile, Elden Ring has been top-of-mind for pretty much all of 2022. The same exploit was investigated and taken care of in Elden Ring, so those servers have stayed online through the who??le ordeal.

While it might seem like players would still gravitate towards the newcomer in Elden Ring, it's good to have these online features back up for Dark Souls 3. Newcomers who bought into Elden Ring may wish to go back and explore earlier titles, and hopefully they'll be able to do it as originally intended. No timeline's been made public on when the PC online features for Dark Souls or Dark Souls 2 will be back.

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Blizzard is decoupling the PvE and PvP modes of Overwatch 2

Overwatch 2 will be playable for a select few soon, though it's arriving in smaller pieces. Blizzard announced today that it's 'decoupling' the PvE and PvP modes of Overwatch 2, and hosting some closed tests of the mul??tiplayer ??side soon.

In a new video, Overwatch game director Aaron Keller confirms that a closed alpha of Overwatch 2 PvP is starting this week. It will be under NDA, for Blizzard employees and "key partners" including Overwatch League players. A closed PC?? beta is coming in late April, and additional testing is expected for later this year with new maps and heroes.

Sign-ups for the Overwatch 2 closed beta in April are live now, and you can sign up here. The April beta will have the new hero Sojourn, four new maps, the new Push mode and ping systems, a few hero reworks, and will use the 5-vs-5 set-up.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgaWQMkS0AI

Since Overwatch 2 was pre-emptively pushed back last year, the upcoming hero-shooter has felt a bit nebulous. The studio has also been through quite a bit in the last few years, to say the least. There's the Activision Blizzard lawsuit and immediate fallout, the news of Microsoft's acquisition of the company, and a fair bit of turnover at the top of the studio.

We'll see whether the closed beta assuages concerns about the state of Overwatch 2. Branching off the multiplayer from the PvE side of th??e sequel might help get more pieces out faster, and Keller says the team is planning on putting out more frequent status updates.

You can sign up for the closed beta and try to see Overwatch 2 for yourself here.

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Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right

Don't mind me, just thinking of reasons to roll a fresh character for Demon's Souls PvP.

It's been several months since I've played Demon's Souls �honestly, reason enough for a revisit �and I didn't engage with the PvP much on PS5. My energy went into the platinum trophy, and now that I've built it ba??ck up, I'm ready for shenanigans.

This literal cage match, recorded by Reddit user EnderSkoom, is the tipping point.

//www.reddit.com/r/d?emonssouls/comments/og14z3/2_guys_fighting_in_?a_cage_0_ft_apart_because_they/

I want in on?? this particular brand of PvP nonsense. It's a fun mess.

This area in Upper Latria freaks me out when it's just unsettling walkways and gargoyles swooping down on me, but invaders, too? I won't lie: I can definitely relate to the player in the clip who immediately rolls for dear life and tries to escape. My fight-or-flight instinct also would've been to jump in the cage contraption for a quick exit �you know, to give my??self some room to "properly" fight, not to flee like a total coward or anything.

Pursuer or prey, there's a thrilling rush to Souls PvP. I hope Elden Ring carries the torch even further. I have this looming feeling that I'm going to want to run through the whole series again leading up to its 2022 launch. PvP antics will play a memorable role, though admittedly I've always had much more affection for Dark Souls III, particularly the?? rooftop playground after Pontiff Sulyvahn. What can I say? I'm a Mound-Maker for life.

The post This Demon’s Souls PvP cage match is my kind of chaotic nonsense appeared first on Destructoid.

The tank stands alone

We got a big glimpse of Blizzard's plans for Overwatch 2 in terms of its competitive multiplayer today, including one big change: smaller teams. Rather than 6v6, Overwatch 2 will go to five-on-five for PvP matches.

During today's stream, Blizzard confirmed that the tank role would be bumped down to one spot per team. Where teams in current Overwatch—at least in role-defined queues—are two tanks, two DPS, and two s?upports, now there will be one tank apiece.

The team says they experimented with a few different ideas for changes, and it seems like the reduction of tanks is intended to make battles a little ??easier to read, for both players and spectators. It will also help with supports not having to split their attention between two tanks.

A few hero kit changes were shown off, too; Winston, for example, now has an alt-fire that lets him charge up a longer-range blast, rather than just having his electric shock, and Mei's regular Endothermic Blaster attack no longer freezes people. Things are still in flux, but game director Aaron Keller referenced a change the team is considering around movement speed as an example for how deeply Blizzard is examining the PvP in Overwatch 2, to consider what could be altered or changed.

Overwatch 2 is still a ways off, as Activision Blizzard confirmed earlier this year it would be skipping 2021. Still, it seems like some big changes are coming for both the single-player and multiplayer Overwatch experience.

The post Overwatch 2 will move to five-on-five for PvP appeared first on Destructoid.

The stream will focus on PvP

We've seen some of Overwatch 2's PvE in previous streams, but later this month, Blizzard will be turning the focus onto the competitive side. There will be a PvP livestream held on May 20 to detail some of the changes coming to Overwatch's multiplayer with the sequel.

In the first developer update hosted by new game director Aaron Keller, he says he'll be joined by other members of the Overwatch 2 development team to play through the new maps and talk through some of the philosophy behind changes coming to Overwatch 2's PvP.

Keller stepped in as game director following the departure of longtime director Jeff Kaplan. Revealed back in 2019, Overwatch 2 has been in development since, surfacing for the occasional BlizzCon stream. It was confirmed to not be a 2021 game, but after getting looks at the PvE prior, next week's stream will likely be big for those who are still playing competitive Overwatch today.

The post Blizzard is showcasing new Overwatch 2 gameplay ?later ??this month appeared first on Destructoid.

Quit Stalin, and start Patton your deck!

Today's contest features premium unlocks for WWII card game KARDS.

I fought in the Great War, ya know. ??I mean, it was in about 800,000 different video games and not real l?ife, but it still counts. While they definitely shot each other in dubya dubya too, they also played a lot of cards. See where this is going?

KARDS is a WWII-inspired card game that just added a new content drop to its Steam Early Access period. As far as WWII games go that's super unique, isn't it?! We've got some keys?? to unlock everything it currently h?as to offer, so read on to find out how to win!

Read some info about the ga??me to get all hot and bothered about it, why don't ya?

Independent game developer 1939 Games today revealed that KARDS "Allegiance," the enormous first expansion for its WWII game, will drop onto PC Early Access on December 10 on Steam. This free update introduces 150 additional cards as well as two new ally nations, France and Italy. Ally nations are specifically designed to be played alongside one of the game's five existing nations to?? enhance their offensive and defensive capabilities. Offering players a wealth of strategic possibilities, the KARDS Allegiance expansion will be an automatic update for all KARDS players on launch day.

The existing nations also get some juicy new toys to play with including 22 extra cards for each. These cards bolster existing strategies as well as take them in fresh directions. New ground is being b??roken with the addition of mechanics such as units that cannot be targeted by enemy orders and orders that have two different effects to choose from when played.

KARDS: Allegiance Key Features

• 150 new cards to change the tide of battle, including 20 Elite cards
• Two ally nations, France and Italy, each with unique play styles
• Authentic and period-appropriate card keeps the wartime feel
• 45 percent off discount for players who pre-order the 50-pack Allegiance Bundle

Cards confuse me, which is why I'm r?anke??d dead last internationally in Solitaire.

In today's contest, we're? giving away bundles unlocking the full game and all its current decks available in the purchase area of the store. That'??ll save you the time and money of grinding for cards and backgrounds, because we're nice like that.

To enter to win. use the widget ?below to leave your name and email address. You can click around in there for ad?ditional ways to earn entries, so have some fun!

We ??have three PC keys to give away; winners will be drawn Monday, December 16.

KARDS is free to play and available now on Steam. Hit up PC Invasion for more chances to score a key.

Dtoid Contest: Unlock your ful??l arsenal in WWII-themed car??d game KARDS

The post Cont?est: Unlock your fu?ll arsenal in WWII-themed card game KARDS appeared first on Destructoid.

Hau you doin'?

When I first saw Mordhau, I assumed it was the next game from the Chivalry developers. Nope! It was just a Kickstarted passion project that was inspired by the aforementioned hack and slash. Either way, it's got some great Chivalry vibes and at the same time does enough to?? differentiate itself and stand on its own merits.

Medieval hand-to-hand combat is a genre that I think will continue to blossom. Between Chivalry, For Honor, and now Mordhau, there is proof that no one approach is king; there is? room for competition.

Mordhau (PC)
Developer: Triternion
Publisher: Triternion
Release Date: April 29, 2019
MSRP: $29.99

Mordhau is a melee-focused combat game that focusing on killing and maiming each other with weapons like longswords, pikes, bardiches (b??ardichii?), and way more.

Also, you can play a lute. It doesn't do anything, but that hasn't stopped me from playing it in every match I can! Since there is no story or singleplayer, Mordhau boils down to its mechanics and how they are used to full effect. This is a game primarily about hand-to-hand combat, it is super important to note that swinging weapons feels good. Wea??pons hand??le in their own unique ways, and the game rewards paying close attention to the other players and the surroundings.

There are a lot of mechanics to keep track of. Players can swing their weapon, block, parry and riposte, kick, throw, and I'm sure I'm forgetting things even now. Knowing when to use what is the goal of practicing -- do you thrust your sword now or wait and take a bigger swing? Is your spacing correct to make that maneuver you were planning? One chooses a class when entering battle which dictates the weapon and armor they bring to th?e fray. The default classes are varied and give the player a great selection of different roles to choose from. It's also possible to crea??te a brand new class, complete with weapons, armor, and perks. Doing all of this costs gold which can be earned at a respectable rate just from playing the game. 

It's exciting to find efficient and unique combos that create different playstyles. For example, I have a class that uses a Lute as its primary weapon and a rock as its secondary. I just run around playing music and throwing rocks at people. It's the best. And really, this is where Mordhau shines: making every match your own. What do you consider to be "fun?" Whatever it is, there is a way to achieve it in Mordhau. So many different playstyl?es can be utilized -?- not efficiently, but really, who cares? 

After a lengthy, but rather informativ??e tutorial, it's easy to quickly forget li?terally everything and head into one of three game modes: Horde, Battle Royale, or Frontline. Horde mode has everyone working cooperatively to fend off waves of AI enemies and it is easily the worst mode. Battle Royale is a 64 player melee bloodbath, while Frontline pits two teams against each other with objectives and limited respawns.

Horde mode is 100% cheesy; the tactics used to win as the rounds get harder simply involve exploiting the braindead AI and whittling them down. For example, the longest game I've had involved everyone hiding in one of the tents that the enemy units can't seem to get into. So the enemies just walk towards this tent opening and we all just poked them with l?ongswords until they all died. Then later, when that wasn't enough, we all just stood on a roof and shot crossbows to slowly whittle down the health of the bigger and badder enemies. 

Trying any decent?? tactic often resulted in a quick death, especially since everyone else was doing what they could the cheese the AI. In fact, as I write this, I'm spectating my teammates in Horde mode just pelt the enemy AI with crossbow bolts. Every map seems to have it's best cheese strategy, and success is just a matter of knowing where it is. It's a snoozefest. Then again, my partner li??terally just typed "killing AI is fun lol" so whatever floats your boat.

Battle Royale is exactly what you would expect: 64 players are dropped into a map with nothing, and the journey consists of finding whatever loot is around and making the best of it. It works simply because the mechanics of fighting are so interesting, so taking that into a Battle Royale mode, where many fights are one-on-ones, plays super well. It won't make a believer out of those who detest the ??genre, but it's a great addition for anyone who does.

Frontline tasks two teams of players with capturing objectives and eliminating opponents until their reinforcements dwindle to zero. For those who have played games like Battlefront, the structure is familiar. This tends to be the go-to mode as it is the most orga?nized and feels well fleshed out.? Since it's team-based, there is no real pressure to perform perfectly and it's easy to notice improvement, even if it takes many rounds of nothing but death. 

Of all of these modes, Battle Royale is the only one that, generally, allows the mechanics to shine as much as they should. Horde is about taking advantage of the AI systems and Frontline gives very few mano a mano opportunities and generally involves some third (and fourth) parties interfering with battles. Mordhau truly shines when players fight in a one-on-one scenario, but the game modes almost never promote that. There are custom servers that allow people to duel, which is a g??reat experience and I highly recommend seeking those out.

There have been some issues getting in to servers, especially with friends. Often times I will party with a friend or two, and only ?one of us will be able to join a server since it fills up to max before we're all in. The load times into a server can be pretty long (even on an SSD), and sometimes the server fills up during that loading time. The game can also stutter or crash, even on menus, though I've only had one crash in my time with the game so far.

In the end, Mordhau is a goofy yet realistic medieval combat game that caters to a ton of different players. Many will grind games in order to best perfect their skills with their favorite weapon. Then there's me, who literally runs around the battlefield playing a musical instrument that adds absolutely zero gameplay value to the team. That's the beauty of Mordhau -- the individual moments tend to outweigh any of the ?design flaws or technical glitches ??that are present.

Now i?f you'll excuse me, I have a battlefield to fill with music.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the p?ublisher.]}

The post Review: Mordhau appeared first on Destructoid.

Life is rockets. There is only rockets.

We've got 200 keys in this giveaway for Rocket Arena's Closed Beta -- come take one!

Do you like rockets? I like rockets. Nex??on and Final Strike Games like rockets, too. So much, they made a new 3v3 class-based arena shooter where rockets are your main weapon. Pretty neat, huh?

Rocket Arena is running a Closed Beta period from May 23-29, and we want you to get in on the action. So, ?we grabbed a bunch of keys to give out. Take one off of my rocket-charred hands!

Read a little bit a?bout the g??ame from Final Strike Games:

Rocket Arena brings a unique 3-on-3 cross-platform experience to the first-person shooter genre and features a roster of vibrant characters competing in quick 5-minute matches in the Rocket Championship Tour. Set in the curious World of Crater, Rocket Arena introduces special gameplay mechanics distinct from standard shooters?, reveling in a host of colorful weapons and abilities that utilize fanciful rockets in imaginative forms.

In Rocket Arena, players are equipped with a blast meter that increases as they are blasted by rockets. As the meter reaches its critical point, players become susceptible to being knocked out of the map, but will quickly return to the stage to stay in the action. With dedicated matchmaking functionality, servers account for skill level and latency when pairing players together. Rocket Arena will be available for cross-platform play on PC and Xbox One at launch, ?with PlayStati??on 4 currently in development.

The closed beta period features a selection of six maps, four game modes, and six characters. Players participating in the beta will also be able to earn cosmetic rewards to use in the release version of Rocket Arena. More information about closed beta rewards can be found here.

Don't rocket me, bro.

We have 200 keys to split between Dtoid and PC Invasion -- once they're gone, they're gone! To claim a key, simply take from from the widget be?low. That's it. No go and enjoy the game!

Rocket Arena is entering its Closed Beta period from May 23-29, and expects a full release in the near f?uture.

The post Giveaway: Take a C??losed Beta key for arena shooter Rocket Arena appeared first on Destructoid.

Pyramid Zed

Several years ago I read an article which put forth the notion that zombie media tends to do better when?? Republicans are in office, while vampires fare better when Democrats control the White House. That's the only reason I can think of why anyone would choose 2019 to release a game based on the six-year-old World War Z&n??bsp;movie, itself based loosely on the 13-year-old novel of the same name.

If you've heard about World War Z at all, you've probably noticed some of the distinct similarities to Valve's Left 4 Dead franchise. World War Z is at the very least an homage to Valve's zombie shooter, though there are enough differences that it doesn't feel identical when you're playing. It's true WWZ is derivative, but it's always been the case that if you're going to steal, steal from the best. Besides, it's been nearly ten years? since Valve ?has done anything with the idea, so why not let someone else take a crack at it?

World War Z (PC, Epic Store exclusive [reviewed], Xbox One, PS4)
Developer: Saber Interactive
Publisher: Focus Home Interactive, Mad Dog Games
Released: April 16, 2019
MSRP: $34.99 (PC), $39.99 (Console)

It's impossible to discuss World War Z without mentioning Left 4 Dead, so I'm not even going to try. Let's be perfectly clear: World War Z borrows its concept and mechanics heavily from Left 4 Dead and its sequel. Left 4 Dead 2 was one of my favorite games of the last generation t??hough, so that's not necessarily a bad thing in my mind??. 

WWZ's main campaign mode puts you in the shoes of one of four survivors who can carry a long gun, a sidearm, and a heavy weapon as they move from point to po??int, doing their best to avoid being damaged by the swarms of undead blocking their passage. The guns chew? through their ammunition fairly quickly, so you'll need to keep them topped off at convenient ammo boxes along your route. If your main weapon runs dry before you can reload, you may be able to find a replacement slightly off the main path. 

The majority of the zombies don't pose much of a? threat, only dangerous through sheer force of numbers. A few types of special zombies will make your progression more difficult, capable of incapacitating you or one of your teammates until a friendly player intervenes. Fortunately, you can always see where your team?mates are since their outline glows through walls, and changes color when they're attacked. Waypoints and other important features of the environment are outlined the same way, making it easy to figure out where you should be headed next.

Players can help one another up and share healing items, and voice communications are encouraged to better share information about weapons and other items scattered throughout the environment. So far this all sounds familiar, right? Well, WWZ does add a few of its own innovations to the L4D formula and manag??es to feel a little mor?e modern than its predecessor.

Th??e most obvious difference is the change from a first to a third-person perspective, with aiming handled thr??ough an over-the-shoulder view. This doesn't actually affect the gameplay all that much, but it does help keep zombies from sneaking up on you. Every character always has access to a melee weapon as well, so it's not tough to slice your way out of a bad situation.

Before a match begins, players can choose to play as one of a variety of different classes, each with slight variations to their gear and playstyle. The Medic, for example, starts with a "Stim pistol" which can be used on friendly players to give them a tempor??ary health bonus, or at higher levels can even revive them from a distance. This takes up the slot in which other classes hold throwable i?tems however, meaning the Medic doesn't have access to grenades like most other classes.

Each class gains levels individually as you play, unlocking perks which can be accessed in the multiplayer modes as well as the campaign. These range from carrying more of your preferred throwable item to some really useful abilities such as being able to stand up if all four team members have been knocked down. Weapons also gain experience as they're use??d, and you can choose to spend the in-game currency you earn to either unlock class perks or mod your preferred weapons with greater damage, shorter ??reload time, and so on. I particularly enjoyed the Crossbow weapon which fires explosive sticky bombs, and the Combat Shotgun, great for taking down special zombies.

Just like L4D you'll choose which character you want to play as, with each player controlling a different survivor. Every character can be any class, so you don't need to worry about playing against type or being locked out of your favorite class. Completing a chapter of the story mode with one of these characters unlocks a short video explaining who they were before the crisis, and what their motivations are now that they're living through the apocalypse. It's a minor detail, but I did find myself wanting to change characters frequently to learn more about them. Unfortunately, none show any of the wit and personality of L4D's survivors,?? instead relying on brusque grumpiness or general military competence as t?hey move from one deathtrap to another.

One of the main selling points of World War Z is the zombie swarm's behavior. Hundreds of individual ghouls will rush your position at certain points, and your team will sometimes be able to find defensive gear such as razor wire, automatic turrets, and electrified floor traps. The swarm behaves without regard for self-preservation, which can lead to some disturbing scenes where zombies fall like ?rain from the top of an open shaft, or form themselves into enormous human pyramids to reach the survivors?. Thanks to the physics engine these pyramids collapse if you take out the lower tiers, so it's always entertaining to fire a rocket or toss grenades into the base.

The campaign's scenarios are well-put-together and nicely varied. The New York campaign is the most familiar, tasking the survivors with escaping from the rooftops into the subway and through the sewers. By contrast, the Jerusalem story plays more like a military shooter, and you have to protect a scientist as he activates a secret weapon. The Moscow mission has minor religious undertones, and the final Tokyo s??cenario sees players protecting the last load of survivors on their way to an ocean liner. (As a side note, it was a little odd to see so many Caucasian zombies in the streets of Tokyo.) There's a fair bit of tension as you wait for a generator to come online or try to fend off a swarm before opening the way forward.

Unfortunately, WWZ isn't nearly as polished as Left 4 Dead 2, though it does look and sound a bit nicer thanks to technological upgrades over the last decade. 4K supp??ort is in place for those with the hardware to take advantage, and the game is well optimized for those without access to higher-end tech. There are some issues that? make it hard to recommend over the older game, though.

Cooperative multiplayer works pretty well, with AI bots taking over for any open slots on the team. The drop-in, drop-out feature found in L4D isn't available?? here though, and once a player disconnects they can't rejoin the game, even if invited. (I only tested this on the PC version; I'm not sure if the console editions have the same problem.) It also doesn't seem possible to play online without opening your group to any random players who want to join in. Further, it seems as though voice communications only work while players are actively in a game, cutting out during load screens and in between matches. It's possible these are teething problems tied to the Epic storefront, which doesn't yet have the social features in place Steam users are used to.

The special zombies are much harder to pick out of a crowd, and there isn't nearly the variety shown in Valve's zombie shooter. WWZ's version of a Hunter is called a Creeper, and basically boils down to a skinny guy in red track pants. The Bull is a zombie in riot gear which acts a lot like the Charger from L4D2, running?? up to a survivor and pounding them into the ground until dispatched. "Gasbag" zombies in Hazmat suits leave a damaging cloud behind when killed, and "Screamers" attract the swarm. There aren't any other special infected, so there's a lot fewer decisions to be made while moving from one point to another.

Competitive multiplayer has some interesting modes, but suffers from what I think may be a fatal flaw. Perks earned in the single-player modes seem to carry over to PVP, giving higher-level players a huge advantage. Two days after release I tried playing a game and had no chance keeping up with players 30 and 50 levels higher than I was. It's a shame, because adding hordes of deadites to King of the Hill and Domination games gives them an interesting hook. I'm hopeful a "no perks" toggle can be added here because there really is the germ of an interesting idea in these modes. Sadly, it's not nearly as entertaining as taking command of L4D's playable special zombies.

Yes, it's all been done before, but it still works, and I was surprised at how much I was enjoying myself while playing through the story mode. I suspect World War Z will perform best on the PlayStation 4 platform, where players don't have the option to play L4D through backward compatibility. On the other hand, PS4 players might just hold out until next week's Days Gone for their zombie-slaying fix.

Is World War Z as good as Left 4 Dead? No. Is it fun despite that? Yes. There's few pleasures in gaming that can compare to swinging a thrumming chainsaw blade through a horde of ravenous undead, and World War Z de??livers. And really, it's not like Valve mak?es games anymore.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: World War Z appeared first on Destructoid.

It means 'combat' in Swedish

[In case you missed i??t the first time around, the beta has been extended through January 31! Get your keys here and try it out.]

We're doing a mass giveaway of beta keys for new turn-based action strategy game, BATALJ.

Looking to try your hand at a new type of?? PvP action game? Of course you are -- that's why you're here.

A former founder of DICE branched out on his own to form a new development team with other industry veterans, resulting in Fall Damage. Their newest game, BATALJ, just entered a beta period, and they've given Dtoid/Enthusiast Gaming 15,000 keys to distribute. So come one, come all, and help us get rid of th?ese keys!

BATALJ is a turn-based action strategy game that pits individual players against one another in squad-based, tactical combat. The name of the game is strategy: Choose between one of three factions of soldiers, choose your heroes and individual u?nits, and plan out your attacks. Featuring an inventive simultaneous turn s?ystem, players will plan out their attacks, defenses, buffs, and everything in between at the same time. Then once the maneuvers are entered, the action phase takes over where the results of your hard work are either rewarded -- or punished.

Your actions, strategies, and back-up plans are altered by your squad loadouts. With several hero characters and individual units to select, you'll find multiple strategies to suit even the most deliberate playstyles. P??lay aggressively and stay on the attack; play defensively and plan for full-on assault; find somewhere in the middle and ride the ebb and flow of battle. Whichever you choose, you'll have to find your perfect squad to be?? successful.

Key game features include:

• BUILD YOUR OWN SQUAD - Base your squads on one of the three factions in BATALJ; Rusters, Re-Linked or Splicers. Choose one of the nine different heroes. Each one with their own strengths and weaknesses. Mix and match between the 54 distinctly different units to create the perfect squad.
• SIMULTANEOUS TURNS - BATALJ offers a unique take on simultaneous turns where your skill in finding the best plays is key. Lock in your actions, then watch how your strategy plays out. Will it be you or your opponent who is the strategic mastermind, who outsmarted and outplayed the other.
• FAST PACED STRATEGY - Thanks to the simultaneous turn system you will have minimum downtime with almost no waiting time between turns.
• HEAD TO HEAD - Play against an online opponent or matchmake against one of your Steam friends.

So, what are you waiting for?

To claim a beta key, all you have to do ??is request one from the widget below. If you have any trouble with the widget, feel free to contact me at tacos@jbsgame.com and I'll send you one! And use the comments below to tell us what you think about the game -- feedback is key in stuff like this, so feel free to share!

We have 15,000 total Steam keys to distribute across the EG network. Once they're gone, they're gone. The beta ru?ns now through De??cember 31, 2018.

Head over the Steam to check out more info on BATALJ and to add it to your wishlist! It's currently slated for a 2019 relea?se.

The post Giveaway: Ta??ke one of our 15,000 beta keys ??for BATALJ appeared first on Destructoid.

I'm keeping a Shatter handy just in case

Let's talk about Artifact. The card-based battler was shown off to the public for the first time last weekend at PAX West, and I got to go hands-on with it during the show and speak with a couple of the game's developers. It's significant mainly because it's the first major Valve game since DOTA 2 in 2013 (VR toy The Lab released in 20??16, but virtua??l reality is still too niche to consider this a major release).

The title has been in development since 2015 but wasn't revealed until August last year, to some disappointment. Collectible Card Games (CCGs) aren't for everybody, and if you don't like other games of this type Artifact probably won't change your mind. On the other hand, if you're already a fan of card games Artifact should be right up your alley.

Artifact is set in the DOTA 2 universe, and all of the characters and ephemera surrounding the game should be familiar to those who've played Valve's MOBA. Fortunately, deep DOTA knowledge isn't necessary to play, and I got along fine even though I've never played a match of DOTA 2. The card game borrows from several titles that've come before, but most of the mechanics can be traced to CCG progenitor Magic: the Gathering (MTG) and Blizzard's Hearthstone, with just a dash of DOTA 2. 

The former influence shouldn't surprise anyone, especially since Magic creator Richard Garfield is spearheading this project. From MTG we get the idea of multiple colors which have different themes, spells and abilities which have a color cost associated with them, and a timer that allows players to react to spells and abilities used on the other side of the board. From Hearthstone comes the turn-based increasing mana ramp that prevents mana flooding or mana screw, and damage that stays on cards even after battle is concluded. And DOTA 2 lends the concepts of multiple lanes to attack or defend, a shop with powerful items that can swing a game,?? and towers to destroy by overwhelming your opponent's forces.

Artifact's unique hook is its three-tiered playfield, which requires players to keep more interactions in their head than the comparatively simple playspaces of MTG or Hearthstone. I asked Garfield about this, and he told me that the ideal way to play Magic (and the way things are done in tournaments) is to play a series of three games, with the winner the player who can beat their opponent in two out of three matches. Artifact, he explained, essentially ??forces you to play three games at once.

There are four colors in Artifact which correspond to four types of fantasy characters, and each of the game's heroes is aligned with one of these four colors as well. Green is associated with Clerics and Druids, and has more healing options. Black is the color of Rogues and Assassins, and tends to have easier ways to remove creatures and heroes from the opponent's side of the ?board, or generate currency. Blue corresponds with Wizards and Sorcerers, and these heroes focus on dealing direct damage. Finally, Red cards are linked to Warriors, and these favor weapons and martial abilities.

Most spells and upgrades have a color cost, and can't be used unless you have a hero of the appropriate color on th?e board and enough mana to cast it. Up to two heroes are placed at the beginning of every turn if you have any available; when defeated they leave the board for one turn before being able to respawn. Placing them is a double-blind affair, and anticipating your opponent's moves is a huge factor in how a game will play out. Since heroes also allow spells of their color to be played, they act as sort of a resource in addition to their threat on the board. Playing around your opponent's heroes and maintaining your own makes for some fascinating c?ounterplay, and there are always decisions to be made, whether to write off a lane as a lost cause, or try to defend long enough in one lane to shore up a different strategy in another.

Decks can have heroes of just one color or choose to incorporate up to all four, depending on the player's preference. Just like in Magic, specializing in one or two colors provides fewer options, but make??s it far more likely you'll draw something you can play every turn. With 44 heroes to choose from in the base set, theorycrafting and building a deck around your favorites will be a huge part of the gameplay.

In addition to the mana and color resources, players earn money by defeating enemy creatures on the board. Every turn, colorless creatures called "Creeps" spawn on both sides, and if your heroes or friendly creeps defeat them you'll earn a monetary reward. Between rounds each player h?as the option to buy some powerful artifacts from an in-game shop, and attaching weapons or armor to your h??eroes can make them much more formidable. Some of these are one-shot items which can do things like fully healing a friendly target, but most are equipment. These artifacts remain on the heroes permanently and come back with them when they return from death. Weapons tend to increase heroes' attack value, but can also grant abilities like Siege (extra damage dealt carries over to the defending player, like Trample in MTG) or Piercing, which ignores an enemy's armor value.

One of the developers I was talking to mentioned some advanced strategies which involved deliberately killing one of your beefed-up heroes so that you could place it in a different, less well-defended lane and tear through the weaker oppositi??on. Many of these artifacts make a hero incrementally more powerful at the beginning of every turn, so failing to deal with a hero early on can end up biting you later.

In addition to their value as attackers, defenders, and a color resource, heroes can also add a "signature spell" to your deck whic??h can have a significant impact on the state of the board. Blue spells might do things like dealing four damage to everything in one lane, while a Green signature spell can heal the whole lane and make it impervious to damage for one turn. Decks are limited to three of any one card per deck, but a hero will bring three copies of their signature spell along with them.

There's a lot going on in any given game of Artifact, and keeping track of everything can be intimidating. That's where the clock comes in-- each player has a fixed amount? of idle time allowed, and if they burn through all of it, they lose immediatel??y. This should help keep players from trying to stall a match, but gives the option to take more time during a turn to consider tactics if you really need it.

One other interesting interaction is the way in which turn priority is handled. Instead of Magic's system of instants and interrupts, players are given the opportunity to react to their opponent's plays on??e at a time. Either player can pass their initiative by taking no action, and doing so will let you take priority in the next lane. Sometimes it's more important to have the initiative elsewhere in the match, and sometimes it's more important to take out a target before it gets a chance to attack. Each round is interlaced with players taking turns reacting to one another until combat is decided, and then play moves on to the next ?lane.

Artifact's presentation is quite nice, and even though there's a lot to keep track of  the user interface does a great job of keeping the player informed. You can check out any lane at any time, and the animations are smooth and easy to follow. Cute dra??gons accompany you from lane to lane, cheering when you do something good and covering their eyes when you take a big hit. 

Unlike Hearthstone or digital versions of Magic, Artifact will use the Steam marketplace for trading, and this feature is what attracted Garfield to the project in the first place. This should help keep individual card costs down since players will be able to trade for what they need, and can even trade items earned in other games to flesh out their decks. I asked if the team is trying to prevent players from being able to pay to win the game, and was told that there are some systems in place to help combat this. Common cards are designed to be extremely relevant to gameplay, and there are only three tiers of rarity (common, uncommon, and rare) with one rare card guaranteed in every pack. Cash spent on card packs will be one of the main sources of revenue for prize money, and Valve intends to sponsor Artifact tournaments and encourage it as an eSport.

Garfield said that players will be able to apply custom rules to games played with friends, and that the concept of friendly "kitchen table" Magic games is one of his team's goals. They also want to make the game new and significantly different from competitors, since games like Hearthstone, Eternal, and Magic Arena already do what they do at a high level. Valve expects to support Artifact for at least a d?ecade, and the game will introduce expansions at regular? intervals even though none are scheduled just yet.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I showed up to play Artifact, but I enjoyed my time with it ??and am looking forward to being able to play again when the full game releases on November 28. Starter packs cost about $20, and contain two pre-made decks of 54 cards each as well as 10 sealed packs of cards. Add??itional packs will be available for $2 apiece, and each pack contains 12 cards. The game will only be available on Steam at first, but iOS and Android versions will release sometime in 2019.

The post Valve’s Artifact is complicated, but might have the chops to beat Hearthstone appeared first on Destructoid.

Shitballs

Ubisoft has just announced that last year's best selling open-world co-op game, Ghost Recon Wildlands, will be receiving a second year of post launch content. The first of many planned updates will launch on April 10 and will allow Team ??Ghost to expand their journey into Bolivia with a new PvE mission along with squad customization for AI partners in the campaign. A brand new PvP game mode called "Sabotage" will be released with five new maps and the first of six new classes for competitive play.

You can now buy the "Year 2 Pass" for $29.99 to receive seven day early access to the new PvP classes, nab an exclusive customization pack and receive eight ??battle crates for player customization (four Special Ops and four Ghost War crates). As for what else is coming in this pack, details are thin apart from a nebulous "four special operation" packs.

While I understand supporting a popular game beyond launch (something that Ubisoft has done well with Rainbow Six Siege), I'm surprised that Wildlands is ge??tting this kind of treatment. I recently started playing the game and am shocked at how low quality everything is. The core ?mechanics are passable, but the AI is dismal, the mission structure is repetitive and trite and the game has constant glitches that screw around with physics and objective triggers. I'd rather see updates addressing core problems instead of more content (of which this campaign has an obscene amount of stuff).

Then again, I can't get over my friend floating behind the tractor I was driving or me running in place on top of a car while driving it. Triple A games ??are amazing.

The post Ghost Recon Wildlands?? is getting a?? second year of content appeared first on Destructoid.

The latest 'survival' game

I’ve been on a survival kick lately. I think it had something to do with hanging out in forests and beaches during the entirety of my holiday and coming back to marathon episodes of Survivorman with Les Stroud.

Whatever the case, my complaints about survival games such as Ark and Minecraft have always been the same; you don’t do much actual surviving. That is early game, the basic stuff. Once you figure out how to properly forage, your risk of ever dying from the elements is dramatically reduced, and it ends up boiling down to teaming up with other players, building your own space?? together, and ultimately going to war with the rest of the environment around you and opposing teams who want to take all of your shit.

Citadel: Forged with Fire takes this element and runs with it. It starts out identically to games such as Conan Exiles; you are for all intents and purposes naked in the wilderness. You start picking up sticks, rocks, and plants, and after gaining a few levels, have the ability to craft potions, weapons and armor so you can start hunting game. At no point will you be feasting on mushrooms or trying to find water to survive the day. Instead you will be worrying about health and mana pot?ions due to the danger of combat and the prese??nce of high magic which can be utilized almost immediately.

Trimming the early fat is an effective way to thrust people into the wider experience of Citadel. Once you get that farm set up in Minecraft, you are set for the rest of the game, comfortably able to harvest food unless you decide to take a long trip. And even then you can stuff your inventory space with sustenance and survive almost indefinitely until you hunker down at your next destination. Conan Exiles is perhaps a little less forgiving, but onc??e I found a group to tag along with and we built a base and some beds, the only threat of death became our own carelessness and other players.

So what’s the point of having a survival element if the only thing it’s good for is acting as an early barrier to new players? At least in something like Don’t Starve, the entire game is focused around this and you never feel too comfortable in your own skin. Citadel stripping the window dressing of “survival” and getting right to what matters is a refreshing take on a genre that has become all too saturated with simi?lar experiences.

Once you get your bearings, get some armor on your back and survive through a few fights, you’ll want to claim some territory. You do this by erecting buildings by placing pre-constructed pieces like Lego on the landscape, and claiming your creation with a throne, a task that offers quite a bit of customization. Soon you will have a base populated with health fountains, crafting benches, and all the typical affair needed to continue building on your chara?cter.

And eventually you will be fighting orcs, giant??s, and other players in snap??py combat that feels a little clunky at times, but is ultimately pretty enjoyable. It's a bit of a grind and has a long way to go in finding a solid game play balance, but the skeleton is there, and it feels like a somewhat more focused interpretation of the ever growing genre.

Citadel is early access, and not a very polished experience at this point. Character animations? are laughably stiff and jittery, A.I. can be absolutely abysmal at times, and performance is shaky. PvP is chaotic and unforgiving, with quick death doled out to the slow witted. Graphically the game is quite nice; my system is absolutely no workhorse and

I found the game playable, but if you want to really crank up the ??settings, you are going to need a big rig to do so. And even then, in its current state, I have heard numerous reports online and from friends that even on super high end systems the game has some annoying performance ticks. Something to keep in mind perhaps, but hopefully nothing to worry about; the game is early access after all. And as we all know, no game in the history of early access games has ever retained the problems it had in that state after being officially released.

For twenty bucks it’s worth a look if you are patient and don’t mind being a perpetual beta tester until all the kinks are worked out. If Blue Isle Studios stick to their guns, there could pot??entially be a pretty great game in the making here.

_{[This preview is based on an early access build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Early Access impressions for Citadel: Forged with Fir??e appeared first on Destructoid.

High plains shifter

It looks like the cowboy-centric Wild West Online won't be coming to Kickstarter after all. Last week, Destructoid reported that the online Western game would ?take to the popular crowdfunding site to raise additional f?unds ahead of its release. Publisher 612 Games, however, today announced that the game's initial investors have stepped in to fund the entire project.

The investment announcement means that Wild West Online w??ill bypass an Early Access launch for a single, full release. 

According to a press release, all of the proposed Kickstarter stretch goals will be available at launch later this year, including "fema??le characters, rich role-playing and social activities, a??nd localization." Post-launch content, like expansions and other gameplay features, are planned as well.

Additionally, 612 Games have announced plans for both an Alpha and Closed Beta test ahead of Wild West Online's late 2017 release window. Would-be gunslingers can sign up on the game's official website.

Wild West Online's open-world, player-driven spin on gunslingers and ranch hands is certainly appealing. Created with the specific purpose of filling the Red Dead Redemption?? void on PC, it'll b??e interesting to see if it all comes together later this year. 

The post Wild West Online ditches planned Kickstarter appeared first on Destructoid.

Same tree

Earlier this week, a supposed leaked screenshot from Red Dead Redemption 2 surfaced online. It's a genuine image, as it turns out, but there's just one problem: it's not from Rockstar's coveted new open-world adventure. It's actually from something called Wild West Online. Uh, whoops!

Ahead of an impending Kickstarter campaign and a planned launch on PC later this year, PC Gamer got the first details about the game, a player-versus-player MMO which reportedly "won't be the typical routine of questing and grinding levels, but a seamless open world using serv?er shards where a few hundred players will  coexist together or die trying."

I mostly thought the nature of the presumed leak was amusing, but if things go according to plan, Wild West Online sounds neat in its own right (albeit worryingly ambitious). For instance, instead of sending NPCs after you to make you pay for your crimes, it'll be on other real-world players to hunt you down. There's a lot of ideas ??like that which sound good but maybe won't be as fun in practice.

"There's an audience for [this type ?of game] that just wasn't being served on PC," said DJ2 creative vice president Stephan Bugaj. "So we wanted to make this big, open Wild West world with a bit of a twist that, like the best MMOs, is a place where people can really live in."

Wild West Online revealed: The Red Dead-like MMO 'built from the ground up' for ??PC [PC Gamer]

The post Fans mistake Wild West Online screenshot for Red Dead Redemption 2 ‘leak’ appeared first on Destructoid.

It's in this month's Ashes of Ariandel DLC

Some of my fondest memories in Dark Souls III were made while mucking about as a member of the Mound Makers, the game's wild-card, "When are they going to betray me?" covenant. I was a particularly friendly Mound Maker, and that a?lways s?eemed to unsettle people. It was so great!

With that in mind, I am down for the Ashes of Ariandel DLC (despite falling way behind the current meta). It has new story content, as you'd?? ho??pe and expect, but there's also a separate PvP emphasis. The game's multiplayer functionality will be fleshed out with Undead Matches, "one-on-one duels as well as free-for-all and team-based modes for up to six players."

We're less than? tw?o weeks out from the Tuesday, October 25 release. It's sneaking up.

The post Peek at Dark Souls III’s upcoming three-on-three PvP appeared first on Destructoid.

Roll for initiative on September 4

I've written before about how much I've enjoyed the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) over the last several years. For me, one of the highlights of every show is the live Dungeons & Dragons game featuring Penny Arcade's creators, Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, PVP creator Scott Kurtz, and a rotating cast of geek royalty. The? games follow the exploits of the Acquisitions Incorporated adventuring group as they fight monster??s and seek profit. 

Fathom Events recently announced that this year's game would be live-streamed to theaters across the country, and tickets are available now. Writing on the Penny Arcade website, Jerry Holkins advised that anyone attending the stream will r??eceive "a really solid Acquisitions Incorporated advent?ure to take home and play with your own group that’s tied into the campaign."

If you've never watched one of these shows, you might be surprised at how compelling it can be. D&D at its core is all about collaborative storytelling, and?? all of the people involved with this are professional storytellers. The secret sauce here is Dungeon Master Chris Perkins, who keeps the story moving along but gives the other participants enough slack to be funny and true to their characters.

The first game started all the way back in 2008 and was recorded in podcast form as a promotional tool for Wizards of the Coast, which owns the Dungeons & Dragons brand. In 2010, a live version of the podcasts made its debut at PAX West, and it quick??ly became one of the most popular events at the convention.

Once the live shows proved popular, Wizards of the Coast began providing more and more elaborate props and scenery for them, including character-appropriate costumes for the participants. Previous guests have included Kris Straub, Wil Wheaton, and Morgan Webb filling the fourth chair at the table. For the last couple of years?, Patrick Rothfuss has rounded out t?he crew.

_{[I was in the audience for this show. My friend nearly got pegged in the head by Wil Wheaton's D20 at 38:47 of part two. We looked for it in the darkened theater after the show, but for all we know, it's still in there.]}

D&D is one of the clearest influences on video game development, and the merging of role-playing game mechanics with other genres was one of the defining trends of the last generation of console games. If you're interested in getting caught up with the story before the show begins, there's a weekly YouTube series that will continue to run all the way up to the b??ig show? on September 4.

See Acquisitions Incorporated in Theaters! [Penny Arcade]
Dungeons and Dragons Live from PAX West [Fathom Events]

The post Cele??brity Dungeons and Dragons campaign will be live-streamed to theaters appeared first on Destructoid.

Get OOT of MAH swump

People really love Dark Souls III. People ironically seem to love Shrek, the jolly green ogre with a penchant for defending swamps. There just so happens to be a swamp in Fr?om Software's latest, so I suppose it was only a matter of time before this destined crossover would come to fruition.

Iron Pineapple grabbed two friends and decide to dress up as Shrek, Donkey, and Puss in Boots (best costume) while protecting the Road of Sacrifices from invaders. All sorts of antics ensue, reminding me that ??I still need to try PvP since my first playthrough was offline. I particularly enjoy the Shrek-themed font used to convey the story and some of the traps they set for unsuspecting guests.

I'm subtracting points for not having a Smash Mouth song, but copyright law can be a? pain in the ass.

The post Adding Shrek to Dark Souls III is much more fun than you’d think appeared first on Destructoid.

Changing the Crucible

Bungie’s weekly update has been rebranded This Week at Bungie… and that’s not the only change coming from the Destiny developer this week.

There are two new Crucible playlists headed our way - Freelance 3v3, and Freelance 6v6. As the name suggests, these teams can only comprise of individual players -- &ld??quo;no fireteams allowed.”

“Freelance?? 6v6 and Freelance 3v3 are mixed-mode playlists that are only accessible by solo players – no Fireteams allowed,” says designer Jeremiah Pieschl. “Freelance playlists will be available sporadically on the weekl??y rotators in your Director.”

“The design goal of Freelance playlists was to facilitate an even playing fi?eld. Both teams will be on equal ground, though an advantage can be gained by opening a voice channel to Team Chat. A secondary goal was to provide playlists with a wider variety of engagements. Featuring mixed-modes with all of their associated maps means players will have a much more diverse experience and see less repetition in the combinations selected by matchmaking.”

Freelance 6v6 will feature “a mix” of Clash, Control, and Rift, while 3v3 will feature Elimination, Sal?vage, and Skirmish.

Also sc??heduled to change? Special Ammo. You’ll now no longer start a match with special ammo, a f?eature introduced in order to prevent spawn ’n’ snipe playstyles and raising blood pressures the world over.

"The PvP team wanted to increase the use of primary weapons, especially at match-start," said senior designer Derek Carroll. "Sniper rifles and shotguns, in particular, inspire great happiness or sadness depending on which end of the weapon you find yourself. We wanted to somewhat delay that gratification (and sadification)."

 This change will be coming to all 3v3 playlists, but 6v6 will be immune from the changes as “the larger gametypes are generally less sensitive to initial condition??s.”

During Iron Banner, Bungie introduced new steps to combat lag, and it has now been rolled out across Skirmish, Rumble, and Control battles too. From today, you should also see improvements during Trials of Osiris matches, and the team is still workin?g on the upcoming Crimson Doubles and Clash.

And there’s more!

Damage Referee will be rolled ou?t with the February update, a new feature designed to protect us from “bad connections.”

"Damage Referee is our code-name for upcoming changes to the way Destiny handles things that can go wrong when you’re playing games online,” explains networking engineer Paul Lewellen. “Our goal is ??to give you a better experience in?? the Crucible when there are Internet problems outside of your control."

"In short, we're trying to fix the Internet. Streaming movies, wireless connections, the speed of light, and a host of other things are all conspiring to harm your online experience. Normal network latency is bad enough, but even simple problems become extremely complex when the information your console is sending and receiving can be unexpectedly delayed, dropped, duplicated, folded, spindled, or mutilated. It??'s impossible to solve completely, but Damage Referee is our latest attempt to improve things for the vast majority of you."

When it comes to PvE, there’s very little to report. Runners in?? King’s Fall should no longer encounter th?at shitty issue when the camera inexplicably defaults, and while a lot of us thought the “totally OP” teleporting Ogres needed to be nerfed, turns out the issue was to do with bombs blocking the Ogres pathfinding. And that’s about it.

Oh, you have a better chance of getting Vienna Singer ship now if you finish the heroic Lost to ??Light mission. Yay.

Expect to see the update on your dash from 10am PST on February 9, 2016, which will also ?be delivering the Crimson Day celebrations. Be still my heart. 

HAPPY FRIDAY! <3

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Nobody does it better

Despite not touching Bloodborne in quite a while, the game kept coming up in conversations (some sober, some not) at PAX this past weekend. Kyle ?and I tried to sell Steven and Brett on it. Zack and I talked at length about games tha??t similarly defy expectations partway through.

It's fun, then, to come home to this impressive gif of a Bloodborne player taking out three others in a single strike. Cainhurst Castle is deadly enough without skilled invaders ????like komreed00.

Would you even be mad? I'?d be too as??tounded to care.

The full clip can be ??????????????????????????seen in this top ten? stealth kills video by SunlightBlade. Skip to 6:05.

First prize.

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Strictly 3v3

Destiny is eschewing the typical raid format this time around with House of Wolves. A lot of people are excited that raids aren't the main focus of endgame this time around, but personally, I just see it as a way fo??r them to not drop a completely buggy and broken dungeon at launch -- both raids so far have been woefully glitch-ridden.

Instead, we're getting the Prison of Elders three-player PVE feature (which hasn't been fully revealed yet), and Trials of Osiris, a new PVP event. We just got some new information on the latter activity today, and it is catering to hardcore players. It's strictly 3v3, with no respawns (revives only), and there will be no matchmaking.

Every round will feature a new team, and three losses results in an automatic removal -- you'll have to re-enter the trials again to get back into the hopper. It will feature the same map throughout the entire week, resetting on Tuesdays like other PVE events, with a Friday through Monday window. The rewards will be great, with 34-Light (the max) armor being offered, a??nd max-365 weapons.

The idea is that you'll keep playing in the Trials of Osiris hopper over and over if you fail, looking to net more rewards if you win more subsequent matches. Matching up with new teams every time ensures that you aren't killed by the same players over an??d over. Bungie?? is teasing a special reward if you win all nine games in a row.

Overall it sounds like a lot of dedicated PVP fans will be happy, but as yet another event that doesn't include matchmaking, some players will likely skip out entirely. I'm not sold on it. They carved out raids and instead put in a limited PVP event that looks largely like the existing Crucible, and the Prison of Elders isn't looking that exciting either so far -- with no six-p??layer events, my enjoyment will go down considerably as Bungie pares the game down? even more.

It will debut on May 22, three days after the May 19 House of Wolves expansion launch.

Bungie [Twitch]

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Or just keep on riding on elephants, that's cool too

Already tired of everything Far Cry 4 has to offer? You're in luck, because Overrun, the latest batch of content for Far Cry 4, is available today.

This is a more multiplayer-focused endeavor, with a brand new PvP mode in which two factions (the Rakshasa and Golden Path) compete to score points across two rounds by controlling zones that are active at a specific? time. Basically, if you're interested because of the name or the fact that you get a dune buggy, keep all that in mind if you're more of a "fly solo" person. 

Additionally, there are four new maps included. You can pick up the DLC on PC, PS4, PS3, Xbox One, and Xbox 360. If you've been itching to match up against other players rather than sad little A?I dudes, now's your chance!

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The latest update brings new mode, more sharks and level editing tools

I've never been much for official "best of" lists for any given year, but if you pinned me down and asked me what my favorite multiplayer experience was in 2014, I'd have to reply that it was had in Digital Confectioner's shark vs. scuba diver title Depth.

While I knew the asymmetrical PvP title would most likely be something I would enjoy, it wasn't until I laid my hands on it that I realized how good it actually was in practice. With no disrespect to the developers ?intended, ??I honestly didn't think the game would manage to live up to the hype produced by the gameplay trailers. Sometimes, it's a very good thing to be wrong.

Now, here we are nearly two months later and the game is doing quite well review-wise on Steam. It's even managed to earn an enviable spot on former Destructoid reviews editor Jim Sterling's Curator page. The question to the developers now might be: How do you intend on improving upon an already winning formula of playing as a lethal Great White shark? Easily enough, I guess, by allowing players to a?ssume the role of a shark capable of consuming that shark.

That's right, Digital Confectioners are bringing out the big gun its latest update titled The Big Catch: the legendary Megalodon shark.

"Megalodon Hunt is an all-new game mode for Depth. Five divers face off against the greatest an??d most ferocious shark conceivable - the pow??erful Megalodon. The Megalodon Hunt mode is void of S.T.E.V.E. and instead of focusing on room-to-room combat concentrates on map-wide chaos. Divers scramble for treasure as the Megalodon puts up a relentless fight, however, as divers get stronger the tables turn and the hunter becomes hunted."

The update also includes n??ew shark species Mako and Tiger for regular modes in the game as well as new diver equipment, a new arena titled The Devil's Head, and an included level editor that allows players to create their own maps and mods for the game.

It's been a while since I've taken the plunge, but I think the new Megalodon mode is the perfect incentive for me to get back into the game. If you're interested in trying the title out for yourself, it's currently 40 percent off now on Steam.

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Would you eat another player to survive?

"With savages, the weak in body or mind are soon eliminated; and those that survive commonly exhibit a vigorous state of health." -- Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man.

It appears that the developers of DayZ may implement a fu??nctional version of cannibalism in the next stable build of the game. I've been unable to get official confirmation, but sites dedicated to the title are reporting that this feature is live in experimental patch 0.51.

Videos like the one seen above are surfacing on YouTube. If the footage is indeed genuine, DayZ may be the first game of its kind to incorporate the act in such a pragmatic manner. Most of us are familiar with cannibalism in games such as Fallout 3, but this is something different. Instead of murdering and consuming an AI-controlled character for health, players in DayZ will? have the ability to do what is for many of us unthinkable: murder another player character and use them as source of in-g??ame sustenance.

I won't go into the ethics involved in such a move; I'll leave that to you to make up your own mind and come to your own conclusions. However, I will say that the mechanic does seem like a logical fit for the game. Homicide is nothing new in DayZ and if we follow this survive-at-all-costs ?line of thinking,&nbsp;?cannibalism is entirely reasonable within this setting.

The act of consuming other players may come with significant risks, though. In another video, YouTuber WOBO states that by eating another player's flesh without first cooking it properly may put one at risk of contracting a Kuru-like degenerative n??eurological disorder which results in uncontrollable laughin??g or crying fits.

What do you think? Is cannibalism an acceptable and natural progression for games like DayZ, or?? do think this le??vel of realism in gaming is unnecessary? I'd love to hear your opinions.

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They had me at high-speed, shotgun-toting primates

"Sooner or later, everything old is new again." -- Stephen King, The Colorado Kid

As Darren Nakamura noted in his article, it seems that twitch-based arena shooters are making a comeback of late. Quake Live recently re-launched itself on Steam to positive user reviews, Reflex is now up and running on Steam Early Access, and it looks like Toxikk is still in the works.

The latest back-to-basics, competitive shooter to cross my desk is Mad Ram Software's delightful Wickland. Heavily inspired by the multiplayer shooters of the '90s, it has a frenetic pace akin to the classic frag-fests of yore with a nostalgic art direction that suits it perfectly. Have a look at the Early Access trailer above and you'll see what I mean. Some titles try too hard to get that "authentic" retro look and feel, but Wickland seems to pull it off with ease.

What really?? made Mad Ram's shooter stand out to me is the morphing mechanic. Instead of unique weapon pickups on the map, you'll acquire better firep?ower and tactical opportunities by locating items that will grant you the ability to transform into the eight different beasts in the game; each with their own particular close- and long-range fighting style.

The title released today on early Steam Early Access and is currently available at a redu??ced price of $6.99, w??ith the full release scheduled to drop in about three months. Features available in the EA build include all eight beasts, three arena maps, a Warm-Up mode (Deathmatch), power-ups (Health and Armor), and a basic spectator mode.

I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm going to b??e playing quite a bit of this over the weekend. Its authentic old-school charm an?d fast-paced arena PvP combat look like a winning combination.

Make sure to keep an ey?e on the front page as we've got several codes for the game that we'll be giving away to the community in the very near future. Stay tuned!

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